Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong leaving for St. Jude job

Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal January 7, 2016 - Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong (left) announces his decision to leave the MPD at the end of January to take a job as director of security for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland looks on during a press conference at Memphis City Hall.

January 7, 2016 - Officers with the Memphis Police Department look on in the Hall of Mayors at city hall as MPD Director Toney Armstrong announces his decision to leave MPD at the end of January to take a job as director of security for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. (Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal)

Police Director Toney Armstrong is walking away from the Memphis Police Department to step in as director of security at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

After five years as head of MPD, Armstrong is leaving at the end of the month and will start his new role with the hospital Feb. 1, more than a year before he was set to retire through the city’s Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP).

"Toney Armstrong truly is a Memphis hero," Mayor Jim Strickland said at a press conference Thursday. "He has dedicated his entire adult life to helping us, starting as a patrol officer and moving up the ranks, and has been a remarkable director of police. He will be missed."

Strickland has yet to name an interim police director.

An emotional Armstrong publicly thanked his mother, who died last year, and his family for understanding that heading up police in Memphis is a "calling, not a job."

"I'm just grateful to God I have another calling now, a calling that's going to be just as purposeful as this has been," he said.

Armstrong, 48, joined the Memphis Police Department in 1989 and was appointed director in 2011. He's overseen the department that was in many ways characterized by tight budgets, benefits cuts that contributed to the departure of more than 400 officers, and four line-of-duty deaths at a time when there's a national call for more accountability of police.

"You're talking about five years of some the most stressful and trying times that this city has ever seen," he said. "So, absolutely, there were mistakes made — but there were a lot of wins as well."

Strickland said his administration is looking to hire a firm to conduct a national search to find Armstrong's replacement.

Armstrong will receive a lump sum DROP payment of $142,454.20, plus interest, when he retires. DROP lets employees freeze their participation and contributions to their retirement plans, creating long-term savings for the city. In return, they increase their take-home pay and the city puts pension payouts into an interest-bearing account, which employees receive in a lump sum at retirement.

Before becoming director, Armstrong served as a police officer, working as an undercover operative and supervisor in the Organized Crime Unit; as an investigator and supervisor in the robbery and homicide bureaus; as a precinct commander; and as a deputy chief in charge of several precincts. He was promoted to major in 2008, appointed by then-director Larry Godwin to the positions of colonel, deputy chief and, in 2010, deputy director.

Armstrong was the youngest person to hold the police director post, according to the city's press release.

"I am extremely grateful to have served the city in this capacity," Armstrong said in the prepared statement. "Because I wanted to stay in Memphis, I searched for a position that was as purposeful and as meaningful as law enforcement has been to me, and St. Jude was the answer."

In its press release, St. Jude noted Armstrong's appointment comes as the hospital begins a significant period of growth in clinical care and research. Over the next six years, the hospital expects to increase the number of patients it treats by 20 percent, while also increasing its workforce at the hospital and ALSAC to about 7,000 employees.

"Toney Armstrong's service with the Memphis Police Department has been distinguished by his efforts to strengthen community relations in the greater Memphis area and his commitment to leadership," said James R. Downing, St. Jude president and chief executive officer. "We are fortunate to have someone of Toney's caliber lead our security operations at St. Jude as we work to ensure that our campus continues to be safe and secure for patients, families, employees and visitors."

Armstrong will be the architect for security at the St. Jude campus, while current St. Jude Security Services Director Ken Carlton will oversee patient security, among other responsibilities, a hospital spokesman said.

Congressman Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, said on the U.S. House of Representatives floor Thursday that of all the directors he'd known, "none were better" than Armstrong.

"It's a tough job being a policeman and a tough job being director of an urban police department, but he did a fine job," Cohen said. "… Tony Armstrong and St. Jude: Thank God for each."

About Yolanda Jones

Yolanda Jones is a police reporter at The Commercial Appeal. She focuses on the Memphis Police Department.